Aurore, Inside the Void, and the Power of Neon
First impressions are essential for a game; when people think of pink skies and cyan rivers, they might see a game that is lighthearted. These games are the mold breakers; From the lovechild of Journey and ABZU born on cloud nine to what No Man’s Sky could have been, Aurore and Inside the Void have similar palettes but vastly different tones.
In this essay, I will discuss these games in depth, from their aesthetic and accessibility to tones and tunes, it’s gonna be a long ride.
Atmosphere
Aurore and Inside The Void have massive worlds, providing depth and instilling within the player a desire to explore. Each setting uses colors within the pastel palette, including pink, blue, yellow, white, and grey, giving the setting a “supernatural” aura. While the colors are similar, the direction each game’s art style takes is different and will be discussed in-depth here.
Aurore’s atmosphere is inspired by the concept of secondary worlds, universes we make ourselves that can be as down to earth or surreal as we want them to be. Aurore incorporates both, with trees, wind turbines, and train tracks scattered across the world, but are floating in a sky of pink clouds with no solid ground connecting them. They are out-of-place for a sky-like setting, but they work in conjunction with the stone structures, which are unusual in their own right, to create a world that is illogical and welcoming. Even when exploring the cavern-like second half of the game, I was impressed with the atmosphere and wanted to keep moving forward. It’s unnaturally natural, and that’s the best way I can describe it.
Inside the Void, meanwhile, is a stark contrast to Aurore; inspired by alien worlds and their civilizations, the colors invoke a sense of the supernatural rather than a sense of homeliness. Everything on the planet is unfamilar to the player, from the blue ground to the pink sky with two suns and white mountains covered in spikes. With a mission to rescue voyagers from year’s past, it makes the player dread what lives on this planet, if anything at all, and what they should expect within these alien structures. Signs of life appear within the spires, but neither look nor act natural, and they do not threaten the player. After learning about the planet’s fate, it’s emptiness becomes apparent and leaves the player to wonder if the crew suffered a similar fate. It’s unsettling, compelling, and mororse all at once, leaving the player wondering if all planets turned out this way and if these expeditions are worth it.
Gameplay
Both games prioritize exploring the environment, interacting with objects along the way. For Aurore, this comes in the form of using the mouse to resize the ground around them, creating a path that disappears once they cross it. This ability is used later in the game to manipulate a river’s current, activate pistons, and move boulders, with the goal unknown until the very end. It’s a fun concept and plays well, but is hindered by the controls and performance problems.
While Aurore is exploration with a lot of influence from the player, Inside the Void puts exploration at the forefront; the only objects the player interacts with are status logs and devices made by the crew, entering structures automatically and puzzles taking the form of mazes. It focuses less on challenging the player and more on immersing them in the world they are exploring, which does not bother me but could be disappointing for those looking for more action in their games.
Controls
Aurore and Inside the Void have similar controls, with differences between them concerning their gameplay. The WASD control scheme functions well in both games, with the main differences involving the mouse. Inside the Void uses it solely as the camera, with the mouse buttons serving to advance the story in cutscenes. Unlike Aurore, interacting with objects is mapped to the E key, with text appearing whenever there is an object the player can interact with. Other than status logs and objects made by the crew, interactions that would require input occur automatically, leaving the player to immerse themselves in the story and keep moving forward.
Unlike Inside the Void, the mouse is the center of Aurore’s gameplay. Serving as the game’s camera, the mouse buttons allow the player to resize objects in their vicinity. It works on paper, but the mouse sensitivity needs work. In my play throughs of Aurore, I adjusted the mouse sensativity several times, only noticing the difference when it was at its minimum or maximum. I believe that Aurore’s controls are better suited for an Xbox controller compared to a keyboard, but if the mouse sensitivity was refined, I would be more forgiving of the camera system.
Performance
Both games run well on my PC, which is an i5 with 8 GB of RAM. Unfortunately, while Inside The Void had no framerate issues, Aurore had trouble keeping a consistent framerate. Both games have a minimalist atmosphere and a lot of 3D objects, but I believe Aurore’s framerate issues can be attributed to the amount of moving pieces; each structure collapses after crossing it, and the rubble remains on screen for players to cross if they are brave enough. When compared to Inside the Void, where the structures disappear after the player explores them, it feels like Aurore is overworking itself. Maybe once the player has reached a certain point, the structures wculd disappear or be rendered as part of the background, which would put less pressue on the system and keep the framerate consistent. The framerate issues are less noticeable in act two, but it’s because there are less moving pieces.
Narrative
Aurore’s narrative is entirely up to the player. With no dialog or lore besides pictures in the form of collectibles, the story is abstract as the setting; who is Aurore? why is she here? why can she resize objects? what is her goal? The game is designed to be thought-provoking, with the only answer provided is that “it just is”. The player can draw from their own experiences to define the narrative, draw parallels and view the world in a way that makes sense to them, which is what a contemplative game is supposed to be. The narrative is on par with that of other contemplative games I have played, which earns my respect.
If Aurore’s narrative is built on player interpretation, then Inside the Void is the opposite; built on suspense with an unknown environment and a compelling mystery, logs from the crew provide the player with enough information to inform them of their whereabouts, but not enough to answer the player’s questions. Learning that the planet once contained life, it was wiped out by a supernova and the spires contain programming for the remnants of their civilization. The crew tried to give it life, only for their attempts to fail and turn on them. Each spire and status log continues the mystery and brings the player closer to the truth, never failing to keep my attention. I found myself satified with the story, but surprised with how quickly it ended. It was a short story, and while a part of me felt like it ended too soon, I was otherwise satisfied with the closure the game provided and I was ready to play it again and see what I missed on my first play through.
Immersion
Both games are short, taking two hours at most, but what one game lacks the other makes up for when it comes to immersion. Aurore, an interpretive narrative with no dialog, takes the approach of “you won’t know the end until you see it”, providing an incentive for the player’s journey and a calming soundtrack that sells the ambiance. Even with the change of setting later on, the journey serves as a calming break from reality for the player.
Inside the Void, on the contrary, uses the unknown to build tension and a narrative to encourage the player to explore. The mysterious setting is a driving point with the status logs providing exposition and leading the player closer to the answer with every entry. The emptiness and droning soundtrack cement an aura of suspense within the game, the only sounds besides it being the player’s footsteps. The idea that “nothing is scarier” is done well, and it left me wondering what I’d find next on the planet.
Unfortunately, there are some details that kept me from being fully immersed. In Aurore, what broke the immersion for me was the game’s camera and performance issues. Had the game run smoother and the camera been optimized better, then I would have been completely immersed. For Inside the Void, the planet was vast but I felt like it was too vast; the default walk speed is very slow, and the run speed isn’t much faster. Getting to each structure took a while, and I had to be confident that I was going to a new spire or else I’d have a long walk to find the next spire. There is no map of the spires (which is justified because only the player and crew have explored it), but if the run speed was faster and there was a shadow for the character, I feel the game would be paced better.
Characters
Aurore and Inside the Void have one thing in common, and it’s the development of their characters; Aurore and Crewmate 1286 (names that are only revealed through the credits and promotional material), share the “blank slate” character archetype; They are faceless, emotionless, expressionless, a stand-in for the player and a reflection that the player is the center of the experience, not the characters themselves. The only details provided about them are their appearance (Aurore) and how they got here (crewmate 1286). Everything else is up to the player, such as their backstory, what their personalities are like, and whether or not they are human. The main differences between them are how they are revealed to the player; the player knows what Aurore looks like from the start, but Crewmate 1286 is revealed during the credits, appearing as a purple-skinned individual (or someone in a purple suit) surrounded by crewmates who look just like them, which is the other difference between them.
Unlike Aurore, Crewmate 1286 interacts with the captain in the beginning, two different aliens, and the lost crew, while she doesn’t interact with anyone. The amount of characters between games that sets the tone, and in Aurore’s case, it’s that secondary worlds are ones we keep to ourselves until we allow others into them. for Inside the Void, the aliens allude to the crew’s whereabouts and the crew themselves are the game’s form of closure; the story is centered on finding them, and though crewmate 1286 is with them for all of five minutes, they provide a satisfying ending to a game where the mystery was the selling point. A lack of characters doesn’t make a bad story, and a game doesn’t need a lot of characters to be good; this is a perfect way to sum up the interactions in each game.
Final Thoughts
These games are unique compared to everything in my library. I had to be constructive with my opinions, since the games were made by smaller teams with a smaller budget, but I enjoyed the time I spent playing each one and was disappointed when my play throughs came to an end. I recommend Aurore to anyone who wants a relaxing experience if they are willing to accept its flaws, while I would recommend Inside the Void to anyone who is interested in a good story. They are neon-colored journeys with quick destinations, but it is not what the games are about; they are about immersing the player in the worlds they create, leaving the player to fill in the blanks, and that is what I found the most enjoyable in these games.